"Christmas Rants..."(December 23, 1997)

I don't know about you guys out there in Internet land, but I had to go to work onDecember 24th. It's like a morgue here. There's no one here. Even worse (or better) I have no workto do. O.K., I have some, but not much. So I decided to write instead, killing time until I leave.

I wrote an article yesterday about the Raptors, guess what, I read last night that Walt Williams gotinjured and is out for 1-2 weeks. I guess the Raptors are even more screwed then before. At leastJohn Wallace will get more playing time. Maybe they'll play some more of Tracy McGrady.

I don't really have a specific train of thought so it's might be a little incoherent.

What I do know. The Jerry Stackhouse trade was weird. At first, it seems to be a steal for thePistons. They get the shooting guard needed to relieve some scoring from Grant Hill and they geta center who can waste six fouls in Eric Montross. Now Brian Williams can move to power forwardwhere he can dominate the smaller players. The 76ers get Theo Ratliff, Aaron McKie and a pick. Let's start one by one. Stack is a talent. He can score. That's about it. He's a poor shooter, verystreaky, but he can score. He's average defensively, and only plays it hard when he wants to. Hemight relieve some scoring pressure from Hill but he won't be what Allan Houston was, the shooterfrom outside. Montross is well, a warm body and six fouls. The 76ers do a couple things here. First, they get a player who didn't want to re-up in Detroit. Theo turned down an $18 million dollarcontract. Not bad for a guy who doesn't score. He didn't want to play for Doug Collins. Ratliff canplay defense, rebound decently and block shots. He also learned at Mahorn U. how to set screensand picks. He's a solid player. He's a good addition to a team and a complementary players. Goodteams need players like this. McKie is a question mark. He was drafted high from Portland andnever caught on there. Same in Detroit, but that could be because Collins. Now he'll back up at 2guard. He should do well. He's a good defensive player, but I find his outside shot to be weak fora 2 guard. The 76ers do relieve some pressure on the team. No Stack means: JJ moves to shootingguard. JJ is a much better shooting guard for this team. He has a better J, passes better and canmove without the ball. He knows what it's like to play with ball hogs (see the three J's in Dallas). Now the Sixers don't have a problem about an undersized three. Tim Thomas, who has skillscoming out of his ass, will probably get more playing time there. He's doing well in limited time. Derek Coleman now healthy. He should get more playing time as well. He'll be playing center. Ithink that's his best position in the Larry Brown system. If anyone remembers how Larry Browncajoled Charles Smith to play center (when Brown coached the Clippers) and Smith put up bignumbers, then you'd be wise to watch Coleman here. Besides, Brown has done well with talentedbig men, like David Robinson, Rik Smits, Smith, and Danny Manning at Kansas and on theClippers. The Pistons now have to resign Stack. He'll command $70 million on the open market. There are a few teams that could use a player like him. The Bulls come to mind. They'll be withouttheir shooting guard from North Carolina and don't tell me that Stack wouldn't love to take over forMike. Besides, the Bulls and Pistons have no love loss, they'd love to screw the Pistons. Ratliff isalso a free agent, but I think the 76ers will be able to resign him quite easily. They need him as abig man down low to help on the weakside to block those weak shots.

Has anyone been watching those third year superstars (who haven't signed a super-mega contract)this year? Remember at the beginning of the year, all the teams who had some cap space weresalivating at the chance to get those guys and those players were salivating at getting a change at theopen market. Well, look who's laughing now. We heard $100 million being thrown around for threeplayers, Antonio McDyess, Joe Smith and Damon Stoudamire. Neither are playing up to theirprevious two years. McDyess doesn't play in crunch time in Phoenix. Don't give me that crap thathis numbers are declining because he plays on a better team. Good players put up good numbers ongood teams. When Charles Barkley moved to Phoenix he still was a 25 ppg 10 rebound guy. I justthink the Clippers had the right idea when they unloaded him for Brent Barry and Rodney Rogers. Rogers is a solid player and Barry has some star potential. He just needs to straighten himself out(and not mouth off to Bill Fitch) and stay healthy. Joe Smith is playing worse than DonyellMarshall. Yes you read that correctly. Donyell Marshall is outplaying Joe Smith. The first pick ofthe 1995 draft is playing poorly. He's not scoring that much and not hitting the boards. He isshowing the NBA that he's not worth that $100 that he so desperately wants. I'd be surprised if heleft Golden State, since that's the only team that could really pay him what he wants. That leavesDamon Stoudamire. Damon, the mighty mouse, is burnt out. I think playing 40 minutes a game for2 years straight, the losing this year and the injuries, the lack of talent, have just burnt him out. He'snot playing up to his previous two years. He has skills, no doubt, but when he's forced to take a lotof shots, and especially a lot of bailout last second on the shot clock type shots, he gets tired. Iremember reading in the paper that he thought he should get around the same amount as GaryPayton. Payton is the best point guard in the league, bar none. He has all the skills, led his team tothe finals, won awards, accolades and has earned his booty. Damon, like the aforementioned players,have done nothing. Damon hasn't even been voted to an all-star game yet. Where does he lie inpoint guards? Payton is one. Stockton when healthy is two. Terrell Brandon is damn good. Heshould be three. Timmy Hardaway rocks and is having a resurgence under Pat Riley. He's a definitefour. No Penny because he's moved to shooting guard. Marbury and Iverson are about the same asDamon. It's a toss up with those three. They could be argued in any order. Iverson has the mosttalent and can score, but he doesn't distribute. Marbury is the best assist man of the three. Damonmixes both. So Damon isn't as good as the top three or four. I think he should be paid inaccordance, though. What did Tim Hardaway get? I think he got a low salary because he wascoming off on injury. Brandon? Can't tell you either. I see Damon as making $60 million over7 years. Rough estimate. That's a damn good salary. He'll demand $85-100 like Garnett or Howard,but he's not worth it. Neither Smith nor McDyess are. At least Garnett led his team to the playoffsand he went to an all-star game.

Kind of seems smart that KG, Bryant Reeves and Michael Finley signed long-term deals before thebeginning of the season. All three are having solid seasons with no thoughts of the future and theirimpending free agency.

Did anyone think the Celtics would be this good? O.K., everyone figured Pittino was a good coach. I know I did. I also figured the Celtics had so little talent at the end of last year, they'd be screwedand only win 15 games maybe 20. Pittino had us all fooled. First, he drafted Mercer and Billups. Sure Chauncey isn't playing that great, but he's getting better. Besides, he can fill it up from outside. Mercer is a steady player who will get better as the team around him gets better. Antoine Walkeris simply one of the best players in the NBA. He's a 20-10 guy. Not many who do that in the NBA. He's as good as anyone in his draft, and that includes Iverson, Abdur-Raheem or Camby. Pittinomade a great deal by signing Mills and trading him for three young, athletic players. Sure onlyMcCarty is getting serious playing time, as Thomas and Jones are rotating on and off the injury list,but it gives him depth (which he loves) and athleticism (which he needs). McCarty and Walkermake up a pretty solid, young, athletic front court. Sure Walter hasn't shown great offensive skills,but he's really not called on for that. He's needed to set screens, play defense, rebound and run likethe greyhound he is. Travis Knight has played well. He's rebounding well, but I thought he'd scoremore. I guess on a team with Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel, it's easier for a big man to get somespace.

So what else is in the news? All is quiet in Portland. I haven't heard much about Isaiah Rider. Iguess that's good. Actually, I have something to vent about. It about the lack of low post scoringthese days. When I watch a basketball game (and most teams don't really have a low post threat. By that, I mean a true back-to-the-basket kind of guy.) I notice that the guys down low when theyget the ball aren't making quick definitive moves to the bucket. I don't know if you guys rememberRobert Parrish back in the day when he was starring on the Celtics, but he and Kevin McHale wouldmake some remarkable moves to the hole. Chief would set up down low, get the ball, and a secondlater, make a spin move baseline, bring those knees up high, like he's walking over a log and dunkthe ball. Or after he got his man covering the baseline, he'd fake left and make that fade awayjumper with the high arc that would barely miss the rafters in the Boston Garden. McHale wouldget the ball down low and make those patented low post moves, step back, forward, side, shoot. Thepoint is, low post players made low post moves. They got the ball and went to the hole andsometimes drew contact. Now it seems, players are more likely to hold the ball, wait for the doubleteam and pass out for the three. And while I'm talking about threes, there still seems to be a wholelot of chucking from downtown even if the line had been moved back. I guess they're used to the3-ball. The two man game, where the man up top drops down to the post player is predominatingsystem in the NBA. I'm not knocking it as a play, but it shouldn't be a system. The best teams haveused it. If I have Hakeem and Clyde, then it makes sense. But when I have watch Bobby Hurleydrop the into Olden Polynice, I now the game is going downhill. There is no movement. Nocreativity. Sure there are creative dunks and one-on-one moves, but I'm talking about creativity inthe offensive system. Utah uses their system to perfection. It's fun to watch. They use acombination of the old standby the pick-and-roll, the two man game in the post, cutting, spot upshooters, screens, etc. Jerry Sloan is an old style coach, teaching fundamentals, and how to play thegame. He doesn't have any hot doggers. Chris Morris was one, but after a couple weeks with Sloan,he's toeing the line as well. I think coaches need their team how to practice execution of their playslike Utah as well as mixing up their plays. The two man game is good, the one-on-one clear out isalso viable, but not all the time. I think it's possible to take a quick shot as well, the world does notend. The 24 second shot clock really kills some offensive sets because players take so damn longto set up. It should, get the ball on the rebound, run up court, so you have between 18-20 secondsto run a play. Within 4-5 second, set up the play and then run it so if you have to bail out you stillhave 8-10 seconds. I guess that's just me. Creativity. Mixing. Matching. Movement. Execution. Practice. Most importantly, the NBA is entertainment. If teams play boring, it's notentertaining.

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